GIANTS: Wilson scores three times as G-Men blast Saints

EAST RUTHERFORD — The scoreboard atop MetLife Stadium had just made it known that the Redskins and Cowboys had won on the final play of their games.

If that was bad news for the Giants it would get worse moments later when Eli Manning threw an interception that was returned 73 yards for a New Orleans Saints touchdown.

Enter rookie David Wilson and start what would be the breakout performance of his 13-game old NFL career.

Wilson launched what would be a record-setting day for the Giants with a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown that started the G-Men on a dominating 52-27 rout of New Orleans in front of 81,437 who endured a chilling rain to see the Giants keep their one-game lead in the NFC East race over Washington and Dallas.

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Knowing the only way to repeat as division champs and get into the playoffs is to keep winning, Big Blue (8-5) got the job done as Wilson became the first player in NFL history to have over 200 return yards and 100 plus rushing.

He got to do his signature post-touchdown endzone flip three times, scoring on runs of six and 52yards on the way to a 13-for-100 rushing day and a 4-for-227 return game.

“I felt we could have a good day in the return game because in practice we broke a couple of long ones,” said Wilson. “I watched the Bo Jackson movie last night, so when all this started happening I thought I might be dreaming.

“Actually I suspected I might do something when the special teams coach didn’t give me one of the play sheets before the game. “When I asked him for one he said ‘you won’t need it.’

This win, only the Giants second in their last five games, saw contributions come from everywhere.

Victor Cruz caught eight Eli Manning passes for 121 yards and a touchdown and Hakeem Nicks, who wasn’t certain to play beause of a sore knee, caught four for 67 and another touchdown.

Manning completed 22 of 35 passes for 259 to beat the team he had rooted for as a kid growing up in New Orleans, and which had put up 49 and 48 against the Giants the last two times they met — both in the Superdome.

“It was nice to play them here, and on Fan Appreciation Day and in front of our alumni (former players),” said coach Tom Coughlin, who claimed he didn’t learn of the Dallas and Washington dramatic wins until halftime.

“Those scores may have had some effect on some people, but I didn’t know about it and I don’t think it had any effect on what happened on the field,” said Coughlin. “They both won on the last play? We always have to play when our backs are to the wall.”

Even with their 35-13 third-quarter lead that came courtesy of Wilson and Nicks touchdowns, the G-Men couldn’t feel safe after watching the Saints get within 35-27 when Darrn Sproles scored twice in six minutes on a 13-yard run and 9-yard Brees pass.

Even with the Saints ranked last on defense in the NFL, the Giants needed fourth-quarter scores from Cruz on a 10-yard reception and Wilson on a 52-yard run to feel safe.

In between Lawrence Tynes booted a 39-yard field goal that had been set up when Andre Brown got his second interception return of the game, a 70-yard run back to the Saints’ 20. Earlier he had a 21-yard intercveption return to set up Wilson’s 6-yard touchdown run on Big Blue’s first series of the third period.

The two interceptions gave Brown a Giants record seven for the season, and his 91 yards erased the franchise record Dick Lynch set in 1966.

Wilson’s 287 all-purpose yards bettered the Giants record 274 put up at Washington in 1966, while he 52 points where the most a Giants team scored since the 1986 Bill Parcells club ended the regular season with a 55-24 home win over Green Bay before starting their playoff run to their first Super Bowl title.